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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.
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from Alex Jones (INFOWARS.COM)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
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from Foreign Policy
Is Russian Literature Dead?
How the land of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy became a book lover's afterthought.
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from GQ
Until two years ago, Ben Carson was a mild-mannered neurosurgeon—a hero to black America, the subject of a tender made-for-TV movie. Then he started raving about Nazis and America's demise. Now he's the Tea Party's great White House hope—and the GOP's worst nightmare. Never mind that he's never been elected to anything: Being president, Carson says, ain't exactly brain surgery
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from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin-born diplomat Tefft navigates sticky U.S.-Russia relations
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Wisconsin-born diplomat Tefft navigates sticky U.S.-Russia relations
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from NBC News (& affiliates)
Yes, Ted Cruz Was Born in Canada. So What?
Courts, based on long-standing precedent derived from as far back as English common law and the First Congress, would be all but certain to say that Cruz, as the son of an American mother, qualifies as a "natural born citizen" eligible to serve as the commander-in-chief. In other words, experts say: as long as you have one parent who's an American citizen - no matter where you're born - you're a "natural born citizen," one of the qualifications under the Constitution to serve as president.
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from Phys.org
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from Right Wing News
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from ScienceAlert
No more physics and maths, Finland to stop teaching individual subjects
The future is all about learning by topic, not subject.
from The Spokesman-Review
Jet crashes in Alps with 150 aboard; no survivors expected
A passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed Tuesday in a remote area of the French Alps as it flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
Family of teen bicyclist who died after incident with speeding deputy files lawsuit
The family of a teen bicyclist who died last year in an incident involving a speeding deputy on Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley is disputing the conclusion of a law enforcement team that examined his death. The parents of 15-year-old Ryan Holyk filed a lawsuit against the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the deputy involved in the incident, Joseph Bodman, late last week.
Police officer shot to death in San Jose
The San Jose Police Department said officers responding to a call about a man threatening to commit suicide were met with gunfire as they approached an apartment building and that a veteran officer was struck and pronounced dead at the scene. The officer was not identified.
Woman thought to have overdosed was shot
Police and paramedics were called to an apartment in the 2900 block of East Diamond on a “trouble unknown” call around 10:30 a.m. today. The male who called 911 said something was wrong with a woman there and a gunshot may have been fired. The woman was vomiting and police reported seeing a “large amount” of drug paraphernalia in the apartment. The woman was taken to the hospital, where doctors found the life-threatening gunshot wound. Major Crimes detectives are investigating the incident.
EPA proposes adding Freeman grain facility to Superfund cleanup list
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to add a grain handling facility in Freeman, Washington to the national Superfund cleanup list. Carbon tetrachloride and chloroform were found in soil at the Grain Handling Facility, and in groundwater in nearby wells, according to an EPA news release. One of the contaminated wells is the sole water supply for the Freeman School District, serving approximately 900 people during the school year. The Washington State Department of Ecology, the Washington State Department of Health, the Spokane Regional Health District and the Freeman School District requested EPA involvement in addressing the contamination at Freeman.
Report: Idaho wasted $61M on failed school management system
Idaho wasted $61 million on a failed statewide instructional management system for schools, according to a new state performance evaluation, as former state schools Superintendent Tom Luna pushed it forward despite warnings it wouldn’t work.
Attorney General seeks to prevent Spokane sex offender release
The Washington Attorney’s General’s Office is seeking to prevent the release of a convicted Spokane sex offender from prison. Travis C. Fields, 37, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison in June 2008 after pleading guilty to second-degree child molestation and third-degree rape of a child.
CDC: 11M fewer uninsured since passage of Obama’s law
The number of uninsured U.S. residents fell by more than 11 million since President Barack Obama signed the health care overhaul five years ago, according to a pair of reports Tuesday from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although that still would leave about 37 million people uninsured, it’s the lowest level measured in more than 15 years.
Pair want inventors, builders thinking inside the Toolbox
A manufacturing idea center called Toolbox has started filling leased space near the Riverpoint campus with products to test new technologies and materials. Toolbox is occupying 7,500 square feet at 840 E. Spokane Falls Blvd., in part of a white building next door to the McKinstry Innovation Center.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Israel’s Arab citizens on Monday for remarks he made during last week’s parliament election that offended members of the community. But President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, rejected Netanyahu’s attempt to distance himself from his comments, telling an Israel advocacy group Monday that the U.S. can’t just overlook what Netanyahu said on the eve of his re-election.
Spokane Police Use of Force Commission leaves culture audit decision to Chief Straub
Citing improvements in police transparency and accountability, Spokane’s Use of Force Commission said it would defer to police Chief Frank Straub’s decision about whether to conduct a formal culture audit of the department. But an Eastern Washington University study released last week showing police disproportionately stop black and Native American residents has renewed calls from some community leaders for an audit to look at, among other things, how officers view race and whether that impacts their actions on the street.
Gluten-free wheat is the goal of industry-funded research
Kansas farmers are paying for genetic research to figure out exactly why some people struggle to digest wheat. The hard science is aimed at developing new varieties of wheat at a time when the gluten-free industry is worth nearly $1 billion a year in the U.S. alone.
African elephant poaching still high in several regions, report says
A high rate of elephant poaching in parts of Africa was unchanged in 2014 compared to the previous year, meaning that a continued decline in elephant numbers is likely, according to a study released Monday at a conservation meeting in Botswana.
A high rate of elephant poaching in parts of Africa was unchanged in 2014 compared to the previous year, meaning that a continued decline in elephant numbers is likely, according to a study released Monday at a conservation meeting in Botswana.
Abandoned buildings found in a remote Argentine nature reserve may have been planned as a potential hideout for top Nazi officers, archaeologists said. German coins dating to the 1940s were found at the site in the Teyu Cuare park in Misiones province, some 680 miles north of Buenos Aires. The buildings of thick walls evidently were designed as a hideout for fleeing Nazis following World War II, but they never lived there because they realized they could live more comfortably, and in hiding, while in cities.
Scaffolding collapse in North Carolina kills three
Workers were dismantling a scaffold at a high-rise construction project on Monday when a piece of it fell to the ground in downtown Raleigh, killing three men and sending another to a hospital.
Charlottesville, Virginia, police announced Monday that they could find no evidence that a rape happened at a University of Virginia fraternity as described in a Rolling Stone article and said they were suspending their investigation.
Cruz’s opening targets Christian conservatives
Launching his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas asked Christian conservative voters to imagine a United States without the IRS, “Obamacare” or abortion – and to imagine they can make that happen by supporting him. “God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation, and I believe that God isn’t done with Americans,” Cruz declared at Liberty University, a Christian school founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Launching his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas asked Christian conservative voters to imagine a United States without the IRS, “Obamacare” or abortion – and to imagine they can make that happen by supporting him. “God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation, and I believe that God isn’t done with Americans,” Cruz declared at Liberty University, a Christian school founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Utah became the only state to allow firing squads for executions when Gov. Gary Herbert signed a law Monday approving the method for use when no lethal injection drugs are available, even though he has called it “a little bit gruesome.” The Republican governor has said Utah is a capital punishment state and needs a backup execution method in case a shortage of the drugs persists.
Court rejects challenge to Wisconsin voter law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge to Wisconsin’s voter identification law, allowing the law to stand and handing a victory to Gov. Scott Walker following a long fight by opponents who say it’s a thinly veiled attempt to make it more difficult for Democratic backers to vote.
Judge orders Durst to be held without bond
Millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst is a flight risk and a danger to others, a judge decided Monday after considering what FBI agents found in his hotel room – an elaborate disguise and other escape tools fit for a spy movie.
House Democrats unveil budget plan
House Democrats on Monday unveiled a $3.7 trillion budget plan for next year that mirrors President Barack Obama’s call for $1.8 trillion in tax increases on wealthier people and corporations over the coming decade. But it would add almost $6 trillion to the national debt over that time.
Search for missing Alaska family comes to grim end
A nearly yearlong search for a missing Alaska family has come to a grim end with the discovery of four bodies, a dead dog and a handgun just off a trail in a rural area near the family’s home. Rebecca Adams, 23; her boyfriend, Brandon Jividen, 38; and her children, Michelle Hundley, 6, and Jaracca Hundley, 3, lived on a quiet street on the outskirts of Kenai, a fishing community of 7,100 about 65 miles southwest of Anchorage. They were last seen in May.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought Monday to reboot an increasingly sour relationship, saying they are looking for ways to help Athens reach a deal with creditors that will keep it from falling out of the euro. In his first visit to Germany since coming to power in January, Tsipras sounded a conciliatory note – though he stopped short of promising anything concrete on reforms that creditors like Germany want to see before they pay more money. Greece urgently needs more funds as it faces a cash crunch within weeks.
Seven Jewish siblings who died in a devastating New York house fire were laid to rest Monday in Jerusalem at an emotional ceremony attended by several thousand mourners. Friends and relatives of the Sassoon family attended the service, as well as supporters who only learned of the tragedy through the news. The chief rabbi of Israel and mayor of Jerusalem also paid their respects.
WHO says politics not involved in Ebola decision
The World Health Organization denied Monday that politics swayed the decision to declare an international emergency over the spread of the Ebola virus last year, despite evidence senior staffers repeatedly discussed the diplomatic and economic fallout of such a move.
Hundreds marched Monday in the Afghan capital, demanding justice for a woman beaten to death last week by a Kabul mob over false allegations she had burned a Quran – a vicious killing that shocked many Afghans and renewed calls for authorities to ensure women’s rights to equality and protection from violence. The killing also has drawn condemnation from Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, who denounced it as a “heinous attack” and ordered an investigation. On Thursday, a mob of men beat a 27-year-old religious scholar named Farkhunda to death. Farkhunda, who like many Afghans had one name, was buried amid a huge public outcry Sunday.
In an all-day session at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin mountains, dozens of U.S. and Afghan officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah gathered to relaunch a relationship strained by nearly 14 years of war and often-testy relations with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Washington lawmakers study marijuana rules
Leading the way for legalized marijuana nationally doesn’t mean just anything goes in Washington when it comes to pot. Instead, it provides a springboard into new questions for lawmakers, sessions in House committees proved Monday.
Spokane is test site for federal jobless program
Spokane is one of a handful of national test sites for a new federal program designed to help the chronically unemployed get jobs and get off public assistance. The $200 million program was announced Monday by U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon, who spent the day touring Spokane’s food and nutrition programs. Washington, one of 10 states participating in the effort, will receive $22 million to pay for case workers, skills training, job-based training and support services such as child care and transportation.
Idaho House OKs bill to improve teacher salaries
The Idaho House has approved a teacher-pay bill that calls for spending $125 million more on teacher salaries over the next five years.
In brief: Spokane assault suspect disputes cause of girlfriend’s injuries
Police began looking for James A. Bench, 24, on Thursday after a neighbor reported seeing him carry his unresponsive girlfriend to a car outside their home on the South Hill about 7:30 p.m. Officers found Bench about five hours later. Bench told officers his girlfriend was injured in a bar fight and said he was taking her to the hospital. He now faces assault charges for allegedly pushing his girlfriend into a sink, causing serious head trauma.
Authorities want to detain sex offender
State officials want to keep a convicted child molester in custody after his prison sentence ends this year. The Washington Attorney General’s Office has filed a petition in Spokane to have 37-year-old Travis Fields civilly committed as mentally ill and sexually dangerous.
Council approves Pike Place upgrades
The Seattle City Council has approved $34 million for an expansion of Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market.
Washington Auditor Troy Kelley says he’s cooperating with investigation
Washington state Auditor Troy Kelley returned to work Monday following a week during which his home was raided by federal agents and his office turned over records subpoenaed by the Justice Department. But the elected Democrat remained out of the public eye, issuing a written statement to reporters waiting in his lobby saying that all of his actions over the years have been “lawful and appropriate.” Kelley said he was aware that the U.S. attorney has questions about financial activities at a business he owned before he was elected. Kelley said he has fully cooperated but remains “puzzled by their interest.”
Idaho giant salamander gets House OK as state amphibian
After five years of trying, a Boise eighth-grader got her bill through the Idaho House on Monday to designate the Idaho giant salamander as the state amphibian. The 51-17 vote in favor of HB 1 sends the measure to the Senate – where it passed overwhelmingly last year. Eighth-grader Ilah Hickman, accompanied by her parents, proudly watched the debate and vote from the House gallery.
U.S. oil drillers scramble to counter OPEC threat
OPEC and lower global oil prices delivered a one-two punch to the drillers in North Dakota and Texas who brought the U.S. one of the biggest booms in the history of the global oil industry. Now they are fighting back. Companies are leaning on new techniques and technology to get more oil out of every well they drill, and furiously cutting costs in an effort to keep U.S. oil competitive with much lower-cost oil flowing out of the Middle East, Russia and elsewhere.
Business briefs: Hecla to ring NYSE bell to celebrate 50 years on exchange
Hecla Mining Co. will celebrate its 50th year on the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the bell at the market’s close on at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
GM ignition switch death toll rises to 74
Families of at least 74 people killed in crashes caused by defective General Motors ignition switches will get compensation from the company. An additional 126 injured people also are eligible for compensation. The fund received a total of 4,342 claims by the Jan. 31 deadline. Of those, 1,326 are still under review. More than half were ineligible or lacked documentation.
U.S. home sales saw slight rise in February
U.S. home sales picked up slightly in February but remain sluggish due to tight inventories, affordability problems and nasty winter weather.
Louisville Slugger bat brand sold to Wilson Sporting Goods
The company that makes the iconic bats gripped by generations of ballplayers – from Babe Ruth to David Wright – announced a deal Monday to sell its Louisville Slugger brand to rival Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million.
Future of technology bright at White House science fair
Obama used the science fair event to highlight private-sector efforts to encourage more students from underrepresented groups to pursue education in science, technology, engineering and math. He announced more than $240 million in pledges to boost the study of those fields, known as STEM. This year’s fair is focused on diversity.
Starbucks dropping ‘Race Together’ from its cups
The cup-writing phase of the Starbucks “Race Together” campaign ended Sunday, but the coffee giant said it will continue with other aspects of its widely criticized bid to heal race relations in the U.S.
Astronauts pack must-haves for year in space
After more than two years of training, astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are eager to get going. It will be the longest space mission ever for NASA, and the longest in almost two decades for the Russian Space Agency, which holds the record at 14 months. Medicine and technology have made huge leaps since then, and the world’s space agencies need to know how the body adapts to an entire year of weightlessness before committing to even longer Mars expeditions. More yearlong missions are planned, with an ultimate goal of 12 test subjects. The typical station stint is six months.
Editorial: Washington Legislature should reclaim No Child Left Behind funds
Robert J. Samuelson: Federal Reserve Board walking a tight rate hike line
Quelling vaccine fear in Spokane’s Russian-speaking community
Earlier this month about 20 people from Spokane’s Russian-speaking community gathered to talk – in Russian – about the fear and reluctance to vaccinate their children for diseases such as hepatitis B, measles, mumps, polio and pertussis. Russian-speaking communities in Washington have the lowest childhood immunization rates of any population, a consistent pattern since about 2008, according to a study conducted by the state Department of Health in 2012.
Important to know symptoms, risks of TB
You may think that tuberculosis is a disease you do not have to worry about. While it is far less common here than in the rest of the world – where an estimated one-third of the population is infected – there were still around 10,000 cases in the United States in 2013.
Ask Dr. K: Plain, low fat yogurt, fruit good for you
Active approach to back pain
Five-year study tracks what happens when sufferers keep moving
Historic Germond Block renovation to include 18 luxury apartments
The Germond Block at the northeast corner of Sprague Avenue and Lincoln Street arose in 1890 from the ashes of the Great Fire of 1889 and has survived its own fires over the years. Now Owners Joel and Jon Diamond are finishing a historically accurate restoration, converting the upper three floors into 18 luxury apartments. Work should be completed by May 1.
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from The Western Center for Journalism
(Western Journalism)
Lexington, Mass. High School Vetoes Dance Theme For Being ‘Too American’
(Western Journalism)
Lexington, Mass. High School Vetoes Dance Theme For Being ‘Too American’
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